This little 'missing scene' is set immediately after the events of Episode 4.09 - It's Raining Men (of War). I hope you enjoy it, all comments welcome, thank you kindly.

GIVING THANKS

"I think this is the last of the plates, Paige." Toby walked into the kitchen carrying a pile of dirty crockery.

"Thanks, Toby. Just put them down there." Paige plunged her hands into the washing up water again and pulled out a white bowl which was still caked in tinned cranberry sauce. "Dinner was delicious, you and Cabe should cook more often," she grinned.

"I've had to learn fast, or Happy and I would be surviving on a diet of TV dinners," explained Toby. "My beautiful wife doesn't cook, she…"

"Reheats," Paige finished his sentence for him. "She mentioned it to Allie earlier," she added at Toby's puzzled frown. "It was good to see Allie today," she continued. "She's been so busy lately we haven't seen much of her. I'm glad she was here for Cabe. Have they left yet?"

"About five minutes ago," nodded Toby. "Cabe was exhausted." He picked up a tea towel and started to dry a wine glass.

"It's all good though, right?" Paige said, grabbing a sponge and dousing it in hot water. "I mean, I've never seen him like that before. He was barely holding it together over dinner."

"He's OK," Toby tried to reassure her. "We've made a real breakthrough today."

He too was glad Allie had been there for their Thanksgiving dinner. Toby couldn't pretend he wasn't still worried about Cabe, but he had been so relieved when the older man had come to him and suggested a few more therapy sessions. Only a few weeks ago, much to Toby's frustration, he had thought Cabe had completely given up on the whole idea. He now realised that Thanksgiving, with all the emotion and sentimentality attached to that particular holiday, had triggered Cabe's return to the psychiatrist's chair and Toby was relieved that he hadn't had to force the issue.

"And what about you? Are you OK?"

"Me? I'm fine," replied Toby, momentarily confused at Paige's enquiry.

"It's just that I know we only saw the tail end of whatever Cabe went through in your session," continued Paige. "You're doing such a great job of getting him to open up, but it can't be easy for you to witness him going through it all."

"Paige, this is what I do," replied Toby. "A shrink who can't take the full force of an emotional outpouring isn't going to last five minutes in this profession. Believe me, I've seen far worse. This one guy wound up sobbing on the floor like a baby after talking about his dead hamster… and you should have seen him after I presented him with my bill!" he added with a grin.

"But this isn't just one of your paying clients," Paige pointed out. "This is Cabe. You care about him, you're doing this because you want to help him. I just wanted you to know that if you ever need to…" she paused and smiled. "I know you can't tell me about what you and he have been talking about - and I wouldn't want you to - but if you ever need to unburden yourself, you can unburden to me. Happy is a woman of many talents, but I don't really have her pegged as a good listener."

Toby laughed. "Oh I don't know, she's constantly surprising me," he said. Then his face became more serious. "I appreciate the offer, thank you, Paige. Honestly, though, I can take it. I'm pushing Cabe further than I ever thought I could, but I know it's doing him a whole load of good. He's been burying memories and that's really unhealthy. Hopefully now I can break down some more barriers."

"I'm sure you will," said Paige. "I know Walter is really worried about him."

"Maybe you could persuade Walt to talk to him?" suggested Toby.

Paige put down the baking tray she was scrubbing and looked at Toby with surprise. "Really?" she asked. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"It would help Cabe to know that it's OK to talk to any of us about how he's feeling," Toby explained. "That it doesn't need to be confined to our therapy sessions. Out of all of us, Cabe needs to know that Walter understands what he's going through."

"And do you think Walter understands?" asked Paige.

"Hmmm," pondered Toby. "Yes, but he may not realise it. You can help him with that though."

Paige nodded and started to think about what she was going to say to Walter. As much as she'd enjoyed spending the evening with everyone – even Florence, kind of – she was looking forward to being alone with her boyfriend. Sylvester had begged her to let Ralph stay over so they could watch a movie and she had readily agreed, partly because she didn't like the thought of Sylvester going home to an empty apartment on Thanksgiving, but mostly because she wanted to stay the night at the garage with Walter.

She was only just starting to process the events of the day. It had hit her exactly how much danger Walter had been in out on the ocean and that thought, coupled with seeing Cabe in such a fragile emotional state, had left Paige feeling unusually clingy. She was grateful that Team Scorpion had made it through another Thanksgiving in one piece, but she longed to just fall into Walter's arms and let him hold her. She thought about what Toby had said about getting Walter to talk to Cabe and wondered if she should bring up the subject before or after they made love. Right now, as selfish as it sounded, she just wanted Walter all to herself.

"Paige?"

Toby's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about…"

Toby grinned. "I know what you were thinking about," he said.

"I hate it when you do that," replied Paige, blushing and throwing a wet tea towel at him. "I can't have any private thoughts when you're around!"

Toby shrugged. "I can't help it if I'm a genius," he replied. "OK, well I'll drag the light of my life out of here and leave you to get jiggy with your own genius," he added. "We intend to spend what's left of Thanksgiving working on Operation Baby Quintis." He rubbed his hands together gleefully.

"Speaking of Baby Quintis," said Paige. "I'm sorry about Walter and the whole baby name thing. You really don't have to name your child after him. I can't believe he was being so egotistic about it."

Toby shook his head. "Actually I don't think he was," he replied. He glanced over his shoulder at Walter and Happy who were still sitting at the dinner table, deep in conversation. "Walt and Happy seem to have reached some kind of understanding about it," he continued. "And as I've become quite attached to my limbs in their current form I'll go along with whatever she decides. So who knows, there might just be a little Walina Curtis running around here before too long. Unless there's a little Walina O'Brien first," he added, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

"What? No!" exclaimed Paige. "Not yet. I mean, maybe one day. Walter and I haven't even discussed that yet. I have Ralph. I don't know what he would think if…"

"It's OK, you don't need to make excuses to me," Toby interrupted her.

Paige frowned at him. "Go home," she ordered and Toby dutifully turned on his heels and headed back towards his wife.

Paige sighed. "Next year I just want a normal Thanksgiving," she muttered under her breath. She glanced at the rest of the washing up and decided it could wait until the morning.

THE END